INDIANAPOLIS – The logo for the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge captures four essential elements – tradition, speed, excitement and innovation – of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing within the framework of the new logo system introduced last year.

Bold, dynamic colors and features form the core of the 2020 logo. At the heart of the design is a continuation of the type lock-up introduced with the unveiling in May 2018 of the logo for the 103rd Running of the race.

“The logo for the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge acknowledges the traditions and grand legacy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while propelling ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing’ forward, racing for what’s next,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles said. “This colorful design reminds everyone of the power and pageantry of the world’s greatest race. The logo is the ‘500;’ it is May.”

The wordmark is athletic, prestigious and confident, and includes a rich red shield that contrasts with gold, the color of the iconic Wing and Wheel logo of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This lock-up creates a strong, consistent annual brand appearance for the event.

A new feature of this year’s logo is a checkered flag pattern that races upward and forward behind the shield, symbolizing the goal of every competitor in the race and the rich history of champions at IMS.

BOSTON -- It's Jan. 2, and the St. Louis Blues are the worst team in the NHL. They're porous defensively and underwhelming offensively. Their meticulously crafted roster has failed the chemistry test. They fired their coach, Mike Yeo, 43 days earlier, but haven't improved under interim coach Craig Berube. For lack of a more clinical term, they stink.

Brayden Schenn thought about that dour moment in the season as he lifted the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night, after the Blues ended a 52-year drought with their Game 7 win in Boston. He thought about what the Brayden Schenn who was in last place on Jan. 2 would say if he received a message from Brayden Schenn, Stanley Cup champion, telling him to just hang in there for a few more months.

"[He'd say] you're a liar. We're in last place," Schenn said. "But you keep on fighting. You keep on believing."

Schenn glanced around the ice at his teammates as they hugged loved ones and took photos with the Stanley Cup on the Bruins' home ice. "This doesn't feel real," he said. "It's absolutely incredible. It feels like a video game we're in."

Here's the thing about video games: When they don't go your way, there's a remedy. You hit the reset button.

Down to one life on the first level? Finish fourth in the first race? Give up three goals in the first 10 minutes of a game? Hit the reset button.

Lingering in last place on Jan. 2? Hit the reset button.

"We put everything on the line from Jan. 3 on, and we deserve this," winger Patrick Maroon said after Game 7. "All these people, all these media, they doubted us all year long. And we shoved it right up their ass."

From Jan. 3 through the end of the regular season, the Blues went 29-10-5. Berube unlocked something in this team through straightforward communication and a north-south forechecking game that eventually was like a wrecking ball swinging through the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Blues' doldrums were a distant memory. Step by step, they walked away from them.

"The coaching change happened. The other guy was a good guy. But then he'd come to practice, and I don't think he had the players' attention," said Bob Plager, an original Blues player who now works in their community relations department. "Then they get the new coach, Berube. You gotta love him. He's old-school, I think. He played over 1,000 games, but he had to work every year. He was the kind of player we were. You went out there and you worked and you learned the game and you understood. You made the mistakes. You corrected them."

And then you forget about them.

If there's anything that defined the Blues in their successful quest for the Stanley Cup, it was their uncanny ability to move beyond adversity. Devastating losses were quickly followed by victories. For example, the consecutive losses in the series against Winnipeg and Dallas that were followed by consecutive victories to close out those matchups.

Calamitous moments were overcome through obliviscence. Such as that undetected hand pass that led to a San Jose Sharks win in Game 3 of the Western Conference final, then led to three straight St. Louis wins to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

"After the game, I just came in [the dressing room] and talked," Berube recalled. "We talked about how you just gotta move on. The call, you can't change it now. It is what it is."

The Blues experienced deflating moments such as the devastating losses in Game 3, the first Stanley Cup Final home game in franchise history since 1970, and Game 6, when they had a chance to win the Cup in front of those starved fans. They followed each with a win, including in Game 7.

"Every guy on our team has a ton of character," forward Zach Sanford said after Game 3. "We're a really close group, and we all have each other's backs. A tough loss like that, I think [on] a lot of teams, a lot of guys would have started throwing each other around the bus, blaming other people and doing this and that. With this group it's all just boosting each other and having each other's back."

Each time adversity hit, the Blues hit the reset button. "Things don't really seem to faze us," captain Alex Pietrangelo said.

That's especially true for their goalie, rookie Jordan Binnington, who was 14-2 this season with a 1.78 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage after losses. This was a rookie goalie who, when asked whether playing front of a hostile crowd in Winnipeg made him nervous, shot back with, "Do I look nervous?"

He won all three games in Winnipeg. He won three more in Boston. He did this all season, from the moment he won the crease.

"It's just his calmness and his mannerisms more than anything," Berube said. "I think he goes back in there and he feels really confident about himself."

Between Berube and Binnington, the Blues resurrected their season.

"I think the guys realized with this coach and that goaltender, there are games going into the third period where they're tied or a goal behind," Plager said. "And they start to realize, hey, this goaltender is giving us a chance to win some games. So we started winning games. The players became believers."

And they believed they were playing for more than just one another.

This Cup is for Bob Plager.

He was on the first Blues team that existed in 1967-68 and played 616 games with the franchise. He paced the hallways during playoff games, too nervous to watch. He stood in their locker room, teary-eyed, after the Blues eliminated the Sharks to advance to the Cup Final. His face adorned the giant video screen before home games against Boston, telling fans and the team, "Hey buddy, let's make history."

To many outsiders, the Blues are the NHL's equivalent of wallpaper, always present but rarely commented on. They make the playoffs with frequency but never do much with the opportunity. Ask someone what "Blues culture" is; at worst, you'll get a blank stare, at best, they'll assume you're talking about B.B. King.

Plager, naturally, pushes back on that notion. Buried in the franchise's DNA, obscured by decades of mediocrity, are the building blocks of a champion. Those first Blues teams had Hall of Famers like Dickie Moore and Doug Harvey, who'd made names for themselves with the Montreal Canadiens. They set the example for Bob and Barclay Plager and Red Berenson, who set the example for Brian Sutter and Bernie Federko, who set the example for Brett Hull, who set the example for Chris Pronger. It continued with David Backes setting the example for Alex Pietrangelo. It continued further with Ryan O'Reilly setting the example for this team, from the moment he arrived via trade from Buffalo last July.

"You got a guy like O'Reilly that comes in here at the start of the year. Every shift, he played," Bob Plager said. "There's no cheating in his game. That rubbed off on some of the players. They saw the way you're supposed to play."

In Plager, O'Reilly saw an honorable ex-player and an important link to his new franchise's past. Last August, when the Blues unveiled their new third jerseys, Plager handed one to O'Reilly. Plager recalled whispering to him: "You know, I need my parade." He said O'Reilly responded, "Well, we're going to get you one."

And he did.

These Blues are connected to previous generations of players, and intentionally so. For example, a pair of Plager's hockey gloves from the 1960s were used as the "player of the game" trinket in the Blues' postgame celebrations this season.

"It's just a tribute to guys who built this thing to get us where we are," Pietrangelo said. "I think we all know what Bobby stands for in this organization and this city, so it's fun for us to get him to be part of our group in some way. Nobody loves this organization more than Bobby, especially with the effort and time he gives."

This Cup is for Bernie Federko, too.

He played all but one of his NHL seasons in St. Louis, scoring 1,130 points in 1,000 career games and making the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. He reached the playoffs 11 years. He reached the conference final once. He has lived vicariously through this year's team.

"You always want to feel a part of it," he said as he stood in the middle of the Blues' Cup celebration. "I'm proud to be a Blue. More than ever. I'm always proud. But this makes one step higher on the totem pole. Because now you feel that we, as an organization, that we, as a carrier of the Blue Note, get to achieve this goal. It's so surreal to be standing on this ice right now. It blows me away."

This one is for Brett Hull and Chris Pronger and Kelly Chase and every other Blues alum who remained around the organization and acted like a booster club for this team during the playoffs.

Pietrangelo said his teammates are playing for not only themselves but also the Blues who came before them. "Those guys have built the foundation of this organization, and they represent the Blue Note pretty well. We try and carry that on," he said.

The Blues are a family. One that extends all the way to the stands.

Lalia Anderson gingerly walked on the ice toward her friend Colton Parayko. The Blues defenseman spotted her, skated over and dropped to his knees, his arms spread wide. He let out a jubilant laugh as he embraced her and she gripped him tight.

Anderson has hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a disease with which only 15 other children in the world have been diagnosed. Her love of the Blues, she said, is one of the things that has helped her through treatments and recovery.

Blues players Alexander Steen and Parayko befriended her at the St. Louis Children's Hospital. Parayko took her trick-or-treating inside that facility. They became fast friends, and Laila would text him after games.

After a bone marrow transplant in January, Laila was confined to her house and the hospital. But during the Western Conference final, she was cleared to finally attend a Blues playoff game, and the video of her ecstatic reaction quickly went viral. She attended every Blues home playoff game after that, and the team flew her out to Game 7 in Boston, perhaps the best sign of her recovery.

"I thought it was 100 percent a joke. I didn't really think I was going to be here," she said on the ice in Boston. "When I got on the plane ... I wasn't ready for this night to start, because I'm not ready for it to end."

Parayko has been open about the perspective Laila has given him. The kind of perspective that allows him to process, say, a playoff loss and move past it.

"We get to show up to the rink and be with the guys, do things like that," he said before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. "But you go to the hospital, and you speak with her, and you watch her go through all that stuff. I can't imagine what she's going through. What kinds of things they're putting in her body to try and help her recover. She continues to have a strong attitude. A positive attitude. It's so special. We might lose a hockey game, and we're frustrated or go home really upset. But there are people out there trying to battle for their lives."

Parayko grabbed Laila's arm and led her to where the Stanley Cup was being hoisted. He grabbed the chalice and helped her hold it. Laila planted a kiss on its rings, wiping away a tear from her eyes with a mitten.

This is what she held on for. This is what she overcame to experience.

"I'm going to remember this until the day I die," she said.

There are over 50 years' worth of stories to tell from St. Louis, of fans who never thought they'd see this day.

Some are young, like Laila. Some are older, such as Charles Glenn, the team's anthem singer who has multiple sclerosis and decided this would be his final season. He then watched as the Blues kept winning and winning until he sang in what was, mathematically, the most home games in which he could have sung during the season.

Some are like Allan, an Uber driver in St. Louis. "I waited 50 years for this," he tells me. "I was a kid, and I was turning the dial on my television, with the antenna. And I came across this hockey game. I had never seen one before. It was the Blues against somebody, and here were two guys just beating each other in the face, and they're just letting them. This was back when they let them fight, mind you. And I could not ... stop ... watching it. I was hooked."

He was never worried they'd fall short of the Cup.

"They can't. Not this time," he said.

Some are like Scott Berry, the Blues fan who put a $400 wager on St. Louis to win the Cup at 250-1 odds, refused to hedge his bet and is now $100,000 richer after their Game 7 win. "This has been an incredible ride, to say the least. In my opinion, the $400 I spent was well worth this experience," he said, adding that even if the Blues hadn't won the Cup, "I've already won."

Some are like the fans who filled Enterprise Center and packed Busch Stadium on Wednesday night just to watch the game on television. Or the ones who crank "Gloria," the 1980s pop hit that became their victory song this season, at red lights in town. Or the ones who would come up to O'Reilly in Whole Foods to give him fist bumps of encouragement.

"It's so cool that people are a part of this. That's what this is all about," O'Reilly said. "It's not just the guys in here. It's a city that's together. We're all trying to win."

In a season defined by the reset button, O'Reilly personifies it.

He collected the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP one year, two months and three days after telling the hockey world that he lost his love of the game while playing with the Buffalo Sabres.

"We're stuck in this mindset of just being OK with losing," O'Reilly said on locker cleanout day in Buffalo. "I feel it, too. I think it's really crept into myself. Over the course of the year, I've lost myself a lot, where it's just kind of get through, just being OK with just not making a mistake. That's not winning hockey at all.

"That's how I kind of fell out of love with it, and I miss that. I want to get back to myself."

At that point, a trade was deemed a necessity for the Sabres, who shipped O'Reilly to the St. Louis. Blues GM Doug Armstrong had long coveted the center, tracking him back to his draft year. O'Reilly tried to put Buffalo behind him, telling Armstrong in their first conversation, "Let's go win a Cup."

Then the losing started.

"It was frustrating," O'Reilly said. "I was coming off a bad year, I come to a great team, and then they get off to a bad start. I was worried I was a big part of why they were losing -- that I had to something to do with it."

Instead, he was part of the solution.

"Looking at his play all year long, his worth ethic and his production for us all year and then throughout the playoffs, he was just a relentless hockey player for a long time. Never quits. Such a smart two-way player. He's a special player," Berube said.

And now he's a playoff MVP.

"It's tough to describe," O'Reilly said. "The Cup is the ultimate goal, and just trying to go out there and be the spark and try to make a difference, and looking at the names on this thing and to be a part of that group -- most of these guys on here I pretended I was as a kid and now to be on there with them, it's an incredible feeling."

One of those names is Larry Robinson, who won the Conn Smythe in 1978. He has now been a part of 10 Stanley Cup championships as a player and a coach. And he's absolutely blown away by the resiliency of the Blues.

"This is a special group," he said as the Blues paraded with the Stanley Cup. "We've been counted out at times all year in certain situations, and every time we were counted out, we came back. We had calls go against us in this series and other series. Most teams might have panicked and did something stupid. But they showed a lot of will and a lot of heart."

And a short memory. Which, in the end, is why the Blues won the Stanley Cup. Every loss was forgotten. Every injustice was dismissed. The burden of 52 years of futility didn't ultimately crush them. Jan. 2 was ancient history.

They hit the reset button, again and again, until they finally beat the game.

Manchester United are ready to make David De Gea an improved offer in a bid to keep him at Old Trafford beyond June 2020, a source close to the Spain international has told ESPN FC.

De Gea, a reported target for Paris Saint-Germain, recently turned down a five-year United contract worth £350,000 a week.

- When does the transfer window close?

Negotiations over a new deal have been ongoing for 18 months but appeared to have stalled, leading to reports that United were prepared to pay De Gea millions to leave in the summer in order to avoid him leaving for free next year.

However, the source said United did not want to sell De Gea at any price, were not prepared to transfer him and would make him a new contract offer.

De Gea reportedly earns £240,000 a week, half what teammate Alexis Sanchez is reported to earn.

PSG are looking for a keeper after parting company with Gianluigi Buffon and are the only club that could afford to pay both a fee for De Gea and his wages. A move to the Parc des Princes would enable De Gea to play in the Champions League.

De Gea had a difficult second half of last season, with the 28-year-old making a number of errors as United missed out on a top-four finish, but remains a key player for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Since joining United from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2011, he has made 362 United appearances and said last season that he was "very happy" at Old Trafford.

But he looks to have lost his No. 1 spot in the Spain team, with Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga having started the past three games.

Thailand goalkeeper Sukanya Chor Charoenying paid tribute to United States forward Carli Lloyd for offering words of encouragement after the Americans scored 13 goals in the team's women's World Cup opener on Tuesday.

The U.S. was ruthless in its demolition of the Asian side in their Group F match in Reims, France, with Lloyd grabbing the final goal in stoppage time.

Sukanya, however, wrote a message of thanks to Lloyd on Twitter alongside a picture of the two embracing after the final whistle at Stade Auguste-Delaune.

"Thanks so much, Lloyd. Your words that you told me make me strong. Keep going for this tournament and so on. Firstly, I felt disappointment in worst situation but this is the biggest experience in my life," Sukanya said on Thursday.

Thanks so much, Lloyd. Your words that you told me make me strong. Keep going for this tournament and so on.firstly, I felt dispointment in worst situation but this is the biggest experience in mylife.☺️☺️☺️??❤️?? pic.twitter.com/BdFxbc0GgW

— ช.ผลิตค้าบ?? (@chor_1987) June 13, 2019

Lloyd responded to Sukanya with a message of hope for the rest of the tournament.

"All you can do is give it your best each and every day. Keep fighting and never give up!! Still 2 more games to play," she said.

Thailand is making its second successive World Cup appearance but failed to make it out of the group stage last time out in Canada in 2015.

It will be difficult for Thailand to bounce back, given its next opponent is 2016 Olympic silver medallist Sweden on Sunday, while the U.S. faces Chile later on that day.

Big Picture

Thrill-seekers, "atten-shun!"

Here's a clash of the heavyweights to make the mouth water (assuming the water that's currently on the Hampshire Bowl outfield deigns to recede in good time, of course). A tussle between two of the hardest-hitting batting line-ups in the tournament, not to mention some of the fastest, nastiest bowlers on display in this World Cup (a prospect that, for differing reasons, has probably taken some seasoned observers somewhat by surprise).

All this is due to unfold on one of the best batting surfaces in the country - a venue where England shared 734 runs with Pakistan on their last trip to Southampton in May. And given the fireworks that these two teams laid on in the Caribbean earlier this year, there could be few better settings for what, among other things, could also be seen as an unofficial series decider - with the sides locked at 2-2 after an astonishing one-day leg of England's tour in February, the winner clearly stands to take it all in terms of bragging rights.

The jeopardy of the contest has been heightened by the events of the last few days. Australia's defeat of Pakistan has propelled their curiously ill-balanced but spirited band of brawlers right into the semi-final mix, while the wash-out between India and New Zealand - the two remaining unbeaten teams - is a blow to those around them who would have been anticipating one or other dropping a full two points up at Trent Bridge.

Instead they've both consolidated their statuses by a point, which means that if (IF!) there is a positive result in Southampton, the negative effect on the losers will be exacerbated. Certainly England will have earmarked this contest as an "ought to win", given that their last three fixtures of the group stage are arguably the toughest of the lot, against India, Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile West Indies, who tripped up from a commanding position against Australia and then were thwarted by the rain against South Africa, will need something more positive than three points to show for their enterprising start to the campaign, especially with fixtures against India and New Zealand still to come, not to mention their next outing, in Taunton on Monday, coming against the Bangladesh team that pipped them in the tri-series in Ireland last month.

But, as the players themselves will doubtless be reminded, all that matters in this World Cup is the team that's in front of you on the day. And the dramatis personae on both sides makes for a compelling cast-list. The power of Chris Gayle on the one hand, versus the panache of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow on the other; the silky speed of Jofra Archer versus the brutalist architecture of the fearsome Oshane Thomas.

The savagery of Andre Russell's six-hitting versus the preposterous boundary-plundering of Jos Buttler; the cultured anchor roles that Shai Hope and Joe Root can provide for their respective sides. And not to mention the battle of the captains, Eoin Morgan and Jason Holder, two of the most impressive leaders of men in the world game, whose tactical nous is matched by the degree to which they've managed to mould teams in their own image.

It could - it should - be some of the most compelling viewing of a World Cup that may be spluttering in the puddles right at this moment, but which has already produced some outstanding match-ups on the days when the heavens have relented. Here's hoping the clouds can give this contest a break. It's one that promises to be unmissable.

Form guide

England WLWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies LWLLW

In the spotlight

It's all about Jofra, who else? There are "no secrets" in Jofra Archer's methods, claimed Floyd Reifer earlier this week, given that he was a regular in West Indies' age-group teams until his omission for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup prompted a move from Barbados to Brighton, and thence to the world stage. But there will be no shortage of spice when one of the bowlers of the tournament to date lines up against the men with whom he is surely sharing a dressing-room in a parallel universe. The liquid pace that he is able to generate from his near effortless run-up has already produced some startling moments in this tournament, not least the savage bouncer which rattled Hashim Amla's grille and left him with concussion. And as he admitted in that South Africa match, the adrenalin of his World Cup debut drove his game, and his pace, to rare heights. You might presume that this contest will get his appetite similarly whetted.

Trevor Bayliss apparently had a wry smile on his face when asked for his opinion of Sheldon Cottrell's victory salutes - though the trouble with the edgiest of quotes is that they get stripped of context as soon as they are laid out on a flat page of words. And sure enough, having claimed that Cottrell's antics "probably piss me off more than anyone else", Bayliss laid the groundwork for some extra jubilant send-offs on Friday - "exactly, more salute to come!! Aaaatttennntiooon!" said Chris Gayle on Instagram in response to an ESPNcricinfo post. And no matter what England's players may privately think of the man himself, there's clearly something about Cottrell's methods that place substance over style. He's scalped five wickets in the tournament to date, including two in four overs on this ground in Monday's washout against South Africa.

Team news

England's hopes of fighting West Indian fire with their own fully-loaded arsenal have taken a slight hit with the news that Mark Wood's dodgy ankle has been playing up again. He is expected to undergo a fitness test on the morning of the game, but with five more group matches to come before the semis, and England reasonably well placed at this early stage of the round-robin, prudence might be the order of the day. Moeen Ali, who missed the Bangladesh match to attend his daughter's birth, is likely to slot back into the twin spin attack, alongside Adil Rashid.

England: (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 Jofra Archer.

Russell remains the biggest unknown quantity for West Indies on the eve of the contest. He was rested for the South Africa match in a bid to manage his long-term knee problem, and Holder admitted that a decision on whether he plays or not will "boil down to how he wakes up tomorrow morning and feels". Kemar Roach is a suitable pacy understudy, although he lacks the explosive power with the bat. Evin Lewis also missed the last match after being struck on the hand in practice but is expected to be fit to return in place of Darren Bravo.

West Indies: (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Evin Lewis, Shai Hope (wk), 4 Nicholas Pooran, 5 Shimron Hetmeyer, 6 Jason Holder (capt), 7 Andre Russell, 8 Carlos Brathwaite, 9 Ashley Nurse, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Oshane Thomas.

Pitch and conditions

The weather in Hampshire has been miserable all week, so it's a matter of sitting tight and hoping for clearish skies come the toss on Friday. Quite how the pitch will have been affected is anyone's guess - it hasn't been seen for days. But given the life that West Indies' quicks extracted in the 7.3 overs available to them against South Africa, it promises to be another bowl-first day.

Strategy punts

• The tastiest match-up of this contest is surely the resumption of the nascent rivalry between opening batsman and bowler, Gayle and Archer, which has so far been limited to five innings across three T20 campaigns (one BPL and two IPLs). Gayle, true to reputation, hasn't stood on ceremony, cracking 35 runs from 25 balls faced all told. But he has been dismissed by Archer on two occasions for an average of 17.50.

• By his lofty standards, Gayle's overall record against 140kph-plus bowlers is less than stellar - he has been harassed by Trent Boult in recent match-ups and was given out three times against Mitchell Starc last week before a decision finally stuck. Another factor will be the importance of running between the wickets on one of the largest playing areas in the competition - rarely a Gayle forte, or that of many of his team-mates for that matter, who prefer to let their six-hitting do the running.

• With no legspinner in West Indies' ranks, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow may finally be presented with an all-pace new-ball attack at the top of England's order. Cottrell enjoyed early success against both men in West Indies' win in Barbados in February.

Stats and trivia

• England may never yet have won the World Cup, but at least they can say they haven't lost to West Indies in the tournament since they lifted the last of their two crowns in 1979.

• England were the beaten finalists at Lord's in 1979, when West Indies successfully defended their title. Since then, they have won all five of their encounters across four tournaments - two in 1987, and one each in 1992, 2007 and 2011.

• With 215 runs at 71.67 and a strike-rate of 118.8, Roy has been one of the outstanding performers in this World Cup. His record, however, is a far cry from his role in the 2017 Champions Trophy, when he was dropped after a run of 18 runs in the same number of games.

• The focus on Friday may be on the quicker bowlers on both teams, but one of the most penetrative in recent England-West Indies games has been Holder - who has dismissed Bairstow, Root, Ben Stokes and Buttler on two occasions each.

Quotes

"It is not frustration because we learnt a huge amount about growing our game out in the West Indies. I think it's important to have days where you are beaten or can't beat a side because you then look even more into areas of improvement. You almost look outwardly and say, 'What were we missing today?'"
Eoin Morgan sees plenty of positives in England's 2-2 draw in the Caribbean earlier this year.

"I don't think it will change, that's just Sheldon. I guess Trevor will just have learn to accept it [smiling]."
Jason Holder on the prospect of a "special salute" for Bayliss from Sheldon Cottrell

Alec Stewart has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Trevor Bayliss as head coach of England.

While some other high-profile candidates - notably Gary Kirsten - appear to have been put off by the decision not to split the roles of Test and limited-overs coaches, Stewart is seen as an ideal character to sustain the hard-working yet relaxed environment around the current England sides. Crucially, as a highly respected former captain of the side, he is also seen as an ideal character to build on the cultural values that have been instilled in recent months.

Appointed as Surrey coach mid-way through a 2013 season in which his troubled team was heading for relegation, Stewart oversaw a revival that resulted in them winning the Championship title in 2018. Now director of cricket at the club, he has given opportunities to an array of home-grown players - including Ollie Pope, Zafar Ansari, Rory Burns and the Curran brothers - all of whom have gone on to represent England.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Stewart will be one of those invited to apply when the process formally begins in the coming weeks. However, it is not absolutely certain he will do so, given that he often refers to his current role at Surrey as "the best job in the world".

Stewart's family are steeped in the history of the club - the pavilion is named in honour of his father, Micky (who also managed England between 1986 and 1992) while his brother Neil is a youth team coach - and at the age of 56, he may also be at the stage of life where touring has lost some of its appeal.

In the end, however, the allure of such a role with the England team may prove hard to resist. Stewart has spoken often of his pride in representing his country and while he did not apply for the director of the men's team role - a position subsequently filled by Ashley Giles - he did hint that he would have considered it had it been offered.

While Chris Silverwood - England's current bowling coach - remains another strong candidate, several competitors appear to have ruled themselves out. Kirsten confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that he "had expressed an interest in coaching one format" - which might be interpreted as a reluctance to coach both - while Stephen Fleming is believed to have held a similar view.

Giles has previously said the ECB are "99.9 percent" certain to appoint one person to replace Bayliss. He has also outlined a plan for three assistants to support that head coach - or director of cricket - providing an opportunity for rest, rotation and career development over the course of an almost unrelenting international schedule. Stewart, Silverwood and, perhaps, Tom Moody - who was also in the mix when Trevor Bayliss was appointed in 2015 - might now be considered frontrunners for the job.

The other leading candidates

Chris Silverwood: Won the County Championship as head coach at Essex and has an excellent reputation as England's current bowling coach. He is a very strong candidate for the top job.

Tom Moody: Vastly experienced in both international cricket (he has been head coach of Sri Lanka) and in England (he was director of cricket at Worcestershire). Moody has subsequently held various management roles in T20 leagues around the world. Indicated he was interested in both the India and England roles the last time they were vacant. It is, however, unclear whether he would give up the portfolio of positions he has now for the demands of such a job and he insists he has had no contact with the ECB at this stage.

Andrew McDonald: Fast developing an excellent reputation as one of the best young coaches in world cricket, McDonald already has trophies in all formats on his CV. He seems happily settled in Australia, though, and perhaps this job comes just a bit early in his career.

Paul Collingwood: The only man to captain England to a global limited-overs trophy. But Collingwood has relatively little coaching experience - he retired as a player less than 12 months ago - and may have to be content with a role as one of the three assistants. This time round, anyway.

Graham Thorpe: England's lead batting coach has an excellent chance of winning one of the three assistant roles, but looks an outsider for the top job at this stage.

Mark Robinson: The England women's coach is perceived, perhaps unfairly, as a little intense, but he has enjoyed great success at international and domestic level. He guided Sussex to two County Championship titles before lifting the Women's World Cup in 2017.

Ottis Gibson: The current South Africa coach has vast experience - he has also coached West Indies - and has had two spells as England's fast bowling coach. He is out of contract in September and thought to be interested in the role.

Mickey Arthur: Another hugely experienced international coach who is sure to be considered if he shows an interest. He may not be seen as the right fit for this role, however, and would have to be considered an outsider.

Jason Gillespie: Having enjoyed great success at Yorkshire, in particular, Gillespie understands the culture of English cricket and has a good reputation for building the sort of working environment England would want. Was heavily touted in 2015 and, if he's interested, he has to be a contender.

Gloucestershire 146 for 3 (Dent 59, Roderick 51*) trail Sussex 351 for 8 dec by 205 runs

Gloucestershire pair Chris Dent and Gareth Roderick both made half-centuries between the showers but their Specsavers County Championship match against Sussex is heading towards a draw.

Only 49 overs in two sessions were possible on the third day at Arundel Castle, with Gloucestershire reaching 146 for 3 in reply to Sussex's 351 for 8. With just a day left a stalemate looks certain, which would at least keep Sussex in the top three promotion places in Division Two.

Umpires Ian Blackwell and Neil Bainton took the players off again at 5pm because of light drizzle and play was abandoned at 5.40pm. So far, 123 overs have been lost to rain during the match.

Dent made 851 runs and was Gloucestershire's leading run scorer in the Championship last season but his 59 on a slow pitch was only his second half-century of the season.

After the early loss of Miles Hammond, Dent shared stands of 60 with James Bracey and Roderick, who was unbeaten on 51 when the rain returned an hour after play had resumed at 4pm following a three-hour delay.

Dent will have been disappointed with his dismissal. On a slow pitch he had survived one escape when he was dropped at third slip by Luke Wells off Ollie Robinson. He had moved onto 59 when he chased a ball from Chris Jordan down the leg side and Sussex wicketkeeper Ben Brown dived to his right to pull off a good catch. Dent faced 141 balls and hit eight fours.

Roderick did the bulk of the scoring in the hour after the resumption and his 88-ball half-century included six boundaries.

Earlier, Sussex had declared on their overnight score of 351 for 8 after rain had wiped out two sessions on the second day. Robinson was a handful with the new ball and was rewarded in his second over when he moved one away from Hammond who edged to third slip where Danny Briggs took a good catch.

Robinson's progress was being monitored by England scout Geoff Arnold, with a view to a possible call-up for England Lions' match against Australia A next month.

He would have been celebrating again in his second spell had Wells held on when Dent was on 46. Instead, David Wiese took the second wicket when Bracey, who had played well for his 21, chased a wide delivery and slapped it into Briggs's hands at point.

Surrey 313 (Foakes 62, Stoneman 61, Smith 56; Patterson 5-81, Coad 3-71) drew with Yorkshire 148 (Morkel 4-43, Clarke 3-35) and 30 for 0

"When an hour is all thou hast, make much of that hour." The phrase might be found on an old sampler reminding folk of the virtues of the Protestant work ethic yet it carried topical power on the final morning of this wet game at Guildford. For against the background clatter of staff gracelessly stacking chairs long before this match ended, Surrey's Morne Morkel took three wickets in 12 balls, thereby establishing a dominance that would reach its climax when Yorkshire were bowled out for 148 just before tea.

Steve Patterson's batsmen thus spent the truncated last session of this suddenly dramatic game ensuring cock-up did not become total calamity. They achieved that goal although it was fitting that the weather came to their aid. Bad light trimmed four overs from the 38 Yorkshire might have faced but the openers, Adam Lyth and Will Fraine, had negotiated their way to 30 without loss when the draw was agreed amid gloom and approaching showers. All the same, a contest which had hitherto been notable mainly for its appalling weather had suddenly acquired much greater interest and that was a fitting reward for the tough souls who had braved both wind and rain on this last day.

"Vigilance is the watchword of the righteous." That saying, too, might once have been embroidered and framed in God-fearing households yet it has carried a powerful admonition for Yorkshire this week, quite regardless of their beliefs. To borrow a more modern idiom, they have not always been at it during this game. They didn't expect to play on the second day and had to be roused from their hotel by coaches who were astonished to see Surrey warming up and groundsmen preparing the pitch. Then on this final morning, with nothing but bonus points seemingly at stake, they batted as if shocked into timidity by the intensity of Ben Foakes' attack.

But any tendency to pile blame on Yorkshire's batsmen for their side's collapse should be balanced by recognition of the excellence of Surrey's bowling. That quality was apparent when Morkel dug in the first ball of the morning with perfect accuracy and a disconcerted Gary Ballance could only fend a catch to Dean Elgar in the gully. We little knew it but the tone of the day had been set. Next over Morkel pitched the ball up and had both Fraine and Jack Leaning caught behind by Foakes, who dived in front of first slip to make the second snare.

After bowling only four overs Morkel was replaced by Jordan Clark who took his first wicket for his new county when Jonny Tattersall's thoroughly irresponsible slash edged the ball high to Rikki Clarke at first slip. Next ball the same combination did for a rather less culpable Dom Bess and one's thoughts went back to the July morning last summer when Clark, then wearing Lancashire's colours, dismissed Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Johnny Bairstow with successive balls. There was no repeat of that famous hat-trick this damp morning in Guildford but the sense of panic among the batting side was similar.

There was a rain break but it did not douse Surrey's fire. Immediately the players returned Tom Kohler-Cadmore was caught down the leg side off Clarke for 14 and made his way off the field rubbing his hip. Three wickets had fallen for no runs and there was really no telling which way this game would go.

As it turned out, an utterly unpredictable morning was followed by the most of predictable of early afternoons in a week which has taught us all to value the high days of summer. The rain set in and prevented any resumption until 2.30pm. But still the pattern of the cricket did not change. Despite Jordan Thompson's late aggression - the debutant included a huge six off Clarke in his 34 - the 55 runs added by his side's last three wickets could not prevent the follow on being enforced. After taking four wickets in the innings, Morkel took an excellent catch over his head at long leg to remove Thompson off Matt Dunn. Surrey's cricketers then beetled off to have tea and prepare to bowl again. Yorkshire had lost all their wickets for 97 runs, the last nine of them in 26 overs.

But the excitement was over. Lyth and Fraine batted with immense care in the final session of this game and spectators were left to wonder what might have happened had not 56.3 overs been lost on this last day. Surrey now have a free week but can be emboldened by their cricket at Guildford. Yorkshire, for their part, were probably grateful they could skedaddle home with five points for the draw. Not so far away, Somerset were the big winners from this rain-wrecked four days. Even in mid-June neutrals may be tantalised by the thought that this may finally be the Wyverns' year.

Kane Richardson would have challenged Justin Langer if the Australia coach had told him to his face that he didn't seem to have the bottle to come back and play for Australia again. Before the start of the World Cup, Langer used Richardson as an example of how far the Australia team had come in a year.

Langer said he remembered a chat with Richardson after the tour of England last year where they lost each of the six internationals. This was after the only T20I following the 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series. Langer, used to winning a lot when he played for Australia and when he coached Perth Scorchers, wasn't quite impressed with the team he had. Richardson had gone for 59 runs in his four overs in that game. On the next tour that Richardson went to - in Zimbabwe - he didn't get a single game, which told him where he stood with Langer.

"I'm thinking about someone like Kane Richardson who I sat with after the T20 game last year and I never thought he'd play cricket for Australia again," Langer said before the start of this World Cup. "I didn't think he had the bottle and we talked about it but how he has come on and you see he is having a red hot dip here. Everything he does, whether it's at training, he's talked about it to the group, he doesn't want to play scared cricket, he wants to be an Australian cricketer, he's a great role model for our players to come from where we were 12 months ago, he's standing tall and he's having a go."

Richardson had to wait nine months for his next appearance for Australia, and he still didn't make it to the original World Cup squad. It was an injury to Jhye Richardson that got him in, and a green track in overcast Taunton that finally got him a World Cup match. He didn't have great List A numbers in between - averaging 43.5 and conceding runs at 6.21 to the over - but it could be his T20 performances that got him back into the mix. He averaged 17.7 and conceded runs at 7.75 an over in the BBL, which is quite acceptable.

Most importantly, though, Richardson gave up worrying about selection and started believing in himself. "Since then - it will sound silly - I have just gone and stopped caring about selection," Richardson said. "You just go back and do your best. And I think that's what happened in the end. I took some wickets. All of a sudden, a few blokes fall down and you are the next one in. Yeah I just kind of gave up all - kind of - thought about it and just played cricket."

Langer didn't actually let Richardson know what he thought of him. "He didn't say it that time," Richardson said. "I would have been pretty upset. Not so much upset, but I would have challenged him, I reckon. Any time some questions your bottle - as he said - I am pretty strong in my competitiveness. Just good to read and know that he thought that and now he thinks … it is quite positive. At the time I was pretty disappointed in my performance, and I knew something had to change."

Langer has seen a completely transformed Richardson on this trip. "It was just about believing in himself," Langer said. "He is a really talented athlete. He has great skills. He is a beautiful athlete. He can field well, catch well, but when you are just holding back a little bit - maybe I won't go for that because I don't want to mess it up - now he is having a dip and a red-hot crack at it."

Richardson himself never believed he was done playing for Australia, but he wouldn't have beaten himself up had he not. "I kind of stopped caring about it," Richardson said. "There is no point worrying about it. I just thought well if I do never end up playing again, then so be it. I will do everything I can to play but it is what it is. All I can do is do my best, and that's it."